1911 pistols were designed for and are intended to be carried in condition 1 which is cocked and locked meaning a round in the chamber, hammer cocked and safety engaged. Period!

Personally I primarily carry a Ultra Compact 1911in 45acp and sometimes a XD-SC 40. The 1911 is more comfortable to carry in summertime clothing as it is thinner and hugs the body easier. The XD (or Glock, M&P or other polymer frame) is lightweight and easy to conceal but mine is mainly a truck gun.

1911's are designed to be "cocked and locked". guns never "just go off". as long as any gun just rides around in your holster, it wont shoot. buy a good holster and dont worry about the rest.

i carried a 1911 for a little while. it was a full size model, and was terribly heavy. prior to that, i carried a springfield XD, and it too was uncomfortable. it was a sub-compact .40cal, and felt like a brick in my belt. now, ive settled on a glock 19. small enough to conceal easily, yet big enough to shoot comfortably. lightweight, tough, and a smooth shooter.

everybody i know that carries a 1911 carries it stoked and cocked. If i was to carry a 1911 i would carry it the same way as well.

Not only a 1911 either. If was going to carry anything besides a double action revolver, i would carry it ready to go safety on. if someone is planning on killing me, they are not going to wait for me to pull the slide to rack a round in. Matter of fact, if you need to use a self defense gun, the person usually waits until they can restrict your movement somehow. Whether it be physically or in limiting the time/space between you and them.

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Botiz630 wrote:Careful, then you'll have to get something to get rid of the geckos. And then something to get rid of what got rid of the geckos. Before you known it your camp will be full of great white sharks fighting velociraptors.

I very rarely carry my 1911 anymore since I got my XD sub, but all my carry pistols are in condition 1. Just one less thing to go wrong. Whose to say you won't lose your grip on the slide while trying to rack it and fail to fully load a round?

1 of my carry guns is a HK usp compact in .40. I know guns dont just go off but carrying 1 with the hammer back always unnerverd me a little. With my HK, theres one in the hole hammer down. Double action trigger so all i have to do is pull the trigger and things are in motion. then after the first one its nice single action pull from there. Just my 2 cents.

My old Sig 229 was the same and that is one reason may LEO carry them as the appearance of a de-cocked pistol is more acceptable than that of a cocked and locked piece. That said, if someone is carrying a pistol for SD there should be (there better be) one in the chamber regardless of the make or model of pistol being carried. Some like the HK, Sig and others have a first shot DA trigger followed by SA, some are DA all the time and some are SA all the time and a pistol with the hammer being cocked or uncocked is dependent upon the style of pistol (most DA pistols are striker fired so there is no hammer).

Many will argue that a SA 1911 type pistol is actually safer because there has to be 3 steps taken for the gun to fire (grip the pistol disengaging the grip safety, disengage the manual safety and pull the trigger) versus just 2 steps for many DA pistols (grip and rip) unless that model of DA, striker fired pistol it has a manual safety.

Either way, all pistols are safe to carry and are intended to be carried with a round int he chamber as long as the one carrying them knows what they are doing and realizes a couple facts. One being the person causing a firearm to discharge is ultimately responsible for the final resting place of the projectile that is launched from said firearm and the other being that one's booger getter better stay off the trigger until it is determined that the pistol WILL be fired.